A speech was presented yesterday to highlight the importance of student loan debt. President Barack Obama gave the speech at the University of Iowa regarding the importance of Congress passing legislation to avoid interest rates on student loans from doubling July 1st. President Obama talks about the amount of debt graduating students have.

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Kirkwood Washington Center Director Tera Pickens says that part of the speech that was not surprising to her.

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The President also mentioned reducing federal funding for schools that continue to raise tuition.

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Pickens agrees with that statement.

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Overall, Pickens says the topic of loan debt is something she sees everyday and is grateful the conversations have been started to fix the problem.